Southern Door School Board approves referendum question

The Southern Door School Board on Monday unanimously approved placing a referendum question on the Nov. 4 ballot that, if approved by voters, would allow the district to exceed the state-imposed revenue cap by $390,000 for the 2015-16 school year.

The district has asked voters twice in recent years to approve nonrecurring revenue cap overrides. On April 2, 2013, Southern Door voters rejected a referendum question that would have allowed the district to exceed the state-imposed revenue limits by $700,000 for the 2013-14 school year, $1.07 million for 2014-15 and $1.31 million for 2015-16.

The other Door County school districts — Washington Island, Sturgeon Bay, Gibraltar and Sevastopol — each have a revenue cap override in place.

The referendum is nonrecurring, meaning the district can only collect that amount once. If approved, the $390,000 would be used for operational expenses to maintain current educational programs and staffing at the school.

“Unfortunately, it’s the same old, same old. We’re trying to do more with less, and it’s come to a breaking point. Community, we value your input and you value our school,” but the district needs help, School Board President Chuck Bretl said in an interview Tuesday.

The board has “crunched numbers” the last two Mondays before moving forward with the referendum, Bretl said.

Currently the district is looking at a shortfall of more than $390,000, he said.

Superintendent Patti Vickman said for the past two years the district has taken suggestions from the community, including insurance changes, restructuring of programing and staffing, increasing student user fees and “aggressively” writing grants.

“We are to the point in the district if we want to maintain (quality education) … we do need a little more help from our community,” Vickman said in an interview Tuesday. She lauded all of those who have helped support the district in a number of ways including volunteering and grants.

There have been public school funding changes at the state level, including an additional $150 per child in aid. Vickman said this helped the district “favorably” but it is not enough to make up for previously lost aid.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, former School Board member Kim Welch spoke out against the referendum question.

“It’s rather misleading when you say ‘nonrecurring referendum’ because it’s for education and to keep things the way they are,” she said. “So every year we are going to keep coming back, basically.”

Welch felt it was too soon to ask for a revenue cap override.

“With the elections this year, the biennium, the Congress basically is not in place. We don’t know what kind of changes are going to be made there. We also don’t know what formulas are going to be used,” she said. “To ask people to pass the referendum in November from what’s being put out here is kind of premature.”

By rule board members were unable to comment during the public comment portion of the meeting.

School Board member Polly Alberts was not in attendance. She could not be reached by press time for comment.

Bretl said the district plans to host public information sessions about the referendum.